


Dust On Our Bones

by Half



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 07:16:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11686719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Half/pseuds/Half
Summary: After a dangerous encounter with a demon, Waverly and Nicole find themselves in a situation that neither of them could have possibly prepared for.





	Dust On Our Bones

“Are we still alive?” she whispers, her voice a ghost in the cold darkness.

“I’m not sure,” she replies, her breath frosting above her.

Nicole pulls herself to her feet, muscles straining, but no pain in her body. No real feeling at all. She holds out a hand to pull Waverly to her feet, and she can barely even feel the pressure of her lover’s weight.

“Are you numb, too?” Waverly asks softly.

“Yes. And cold.” Nicole puts her arms around Waverly and hugs her tightly, rubbing her back as she looks around the dense forest. “It doesn’t seem like the demon of the week moved us anywhere while we were unconscious, at least.”

“Are you sure? I could’ve sworn we were next to some boulders.”

“Hm. Well, maybe-”

Nicole trails off as flashlight beams start hitting off the trees a few feet away. “Hey. Look. Must be your sister and the others.”

“Oh, thank god,” Waverly mutters. “I can’t find my shotgun, and I have no interest in walking back home unprotected with that thing still walking around in here.”

“Let’s get going, then, shall we?”

They head off in the direction of the lights, and, as they get closer, they start to hear shouting.

_“Wynonna!”_ Waverly yells. _“Over here!”_

There’s no response, and Nicole frowns. “Strange. You’d think she would hear us if we can hear her.” She points at a cluster of rocks ahead of them. “There’s your boulders, Waves.”

“At least I’m not going crazy,” Waverly jokes.

As they step around the rocks, coming into the cluster of light beams, Nicole’s stomach plummets into her feet. She stops, staring blankly, jaw slack, feeling nothing. Next to her, Waverly lets out a soft gasp and presses against Nicole’s side, tucking her head under Nicole’s chin and wrapping her arms around her in a strong grip.

Their three friends are standing by the boulders.

Dolls is screaming into his cell phone.

Doc is dual-wielding pistols, covering them, glaring out into the trees.

Wynonna is on her knees on the ground, holding Waverly’s bloodied body in one arm as she checks Nicole’s pulse with the other.

“Baby girl,” Wynonna is whispering. “Baby girl, please, you’ve gotta wake up. You too, Haught. Get your asses back here, understand me?”

“Nicole,” Waverly whispers, clutching at Nicole’s shirt as she watches her big sister with her body. “What’s happening?”

For a long moment, Nicole is silent, watching in horror as Dolls hangs up the phone and hurries over to press his jacket onto a gushing wound on her own body. “Maybe we really are dead,” Nicole rasps, her voice hoarse.

 

+++++

 

They sit on the boulders, unseen, unsure of what to do, as paramedics show up and begin to work on their bodies.

“Nicole,” Waverly murmurs. “The Sheriff.”

Nedley steps out of the trees, his face pale, followed closely behind by Stanton, one of his other deputies.

_“Dolls!”_ he yells, walking up to the agent. “What the _hell_ happened?”

Dolls quickly grabs Nedley by the arm and pulls him aside, close enough to the boulders that Nicole and Waverly can hear them speak in hushed voices.

“She and Waverly were chasing a demon,” Dolls says. “We don’t really know what happened yet. From the looks of things, whatever it was got the jump on them both.”

Nedley folds his arms across his chest. “Well. Are they going to live?”

“I don’t know.” Dolls sighs and shifts his gaze to the paramedics, starting to move Waverly over onto a stretcher. “Waverly is stabilized. They don’t want to transfer Nicole onto a stretcher until both ambulances are at the edge of the trees.”

“What’s taking them so long? Did you at least kill the damn thing that did this? We need to-”

Dolls awkwardly pats Nedley on the shoulder. “Sheriff,” he mumbles. “You aren’t losing your successor, okay?”

“I’m more worried about losing a good cop and a good kid.” Nedley sighs and adjusts his hat. “I’m going to ride in the ambulance with Haught. Tell me if there are any updates on this, got it?”

“Absolutely.”

Nedley heads towards Nicole’s body, which the paramedics are beginning to transfer onto a stretcher.

Nicole rests her head in her hands, taking in a slow, deep breath. Waverly rubs her back gently and kisses her temple. “It’s okay,” she whispers. “It’ll be okay.”

Their bodies are removed from the forest, and in the blink of an eye, they follow.

 

+++++

 

Waverly finds herself inside an ambulance, leaning against the door and watching Wynonna hover over her body.

“Listen to me, baby girl,” she mumbles, softly so that the paramedic doesn’t hear it. But, even several feet away, Waverly can hear her loud and clear. “You’re going to be okay. Understand? Don’t worry. I’m going to find the shithead that did this to you. And I swear to you, I’ll put it in the ground.”

“You always do,” Waverly whispers.

Wynonna bows her head, gripping Waverly’s hand with bloodstained fingers. “I’ll kill it, Waverly. If it’s the last thing I do.”

 

+++++

 

Nicole takes a knee next to Nedley and watches his face as he stares at her unconscious form, his jaw set with pain and anger.

“I’m the one who’s supposed to go first, you stupid kid,” he growls. “Who’s going to be Sheriff after me if you get yourself killed, huh? One of those cowboys who’d rather be watching rodeos than picking up an extra evening shift when we need one?”

Nedley sighs and bows his head, worrying his hat between his fingers. “You’re going to have to wake up. I don’t give a damn. Please, Haught, I refuse to bury another officer. Especially one like you. You have more promise in your boots than most cops have in their entire bodies, kid, and no demonic glowworm or fire vampire or whatever the hell you were chasing is going to put you down.” He sighs again and leans back as the paramedic injects something into Nicole’s IV. “I have to believe that,” he whispers.

 

+++++

 

Nicole and Waverly stand in the hallway of the hospital’s ICU, side by side, watching as their bodies lie in beds hooked up to various machines.

“Where are we?” Waverly asks. “How are… What is going on?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole admits. She wanders through the door over to her own body, out cold with a breathing tube down her throat. “We aren’t dead. I guess. So we must be… in between? Maybe?”

“That puts a whole other spin on living in Purgatory.”

Nicole snorts out a laugh. “Yes. Yes, it does.”

Waverly threads her fingers in Nicole’s. “What happens if we don’t wake up? Do we… I mean, are we just stuck here? Can’t we do anything?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole repeats. She pulls Waverly into a hug, running soothing strokes down her hair and back. “I don’t know. But we’re together. For now, that’s what I’m going to hold on to.”

“You should keep holding onto me, too,” Waverly murmurs into Nicole’s shoulder.

Her girlfriend laughs. “For as long as you like, baby.”

 

+++++

 

They find themselves trapped within the confines of the hospital for days. For amusement, Nicole steals a pack of playing cards from the fifth floor, and they set up to play rummy on the mattress of Nicole’s body’s bed.

“Isn’t this a little morbid, Nic?” Waverly asks as she sorts the cards in her hand.

“I like knowing that I’m still breathing. I’d rather be in _your_ room, but you complained.”

“I don’t really like the thought of watching myself be in a coma.” Waverly picks a card up from the deck. “How did you even get these?”

“No clue. I was able to pick them up for some reason.”

“Hm. Not complaining.”

“Me neither.”

Waverly’s gaze shifts to Nicole’s unconscious form. “And for the record? Your stupid body had _better_ keep breathing.”

Nicole grins at her. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

 

+++++

 

Waverly’s body is moved out of the ICU a week after the incident that stranded them in limbo.

She swings in every so often just to check on it, still unconscious, but breathing on its own.

She can’t help but feel like she would rather it be Nicole.

 

+++++

 

Two days after she’s moved, Waverly steps into her body’s room and finds Wynonna sitting at her bedside, staring blankly at her little sister.

“I got him, baby girl,” Wynonna rasps, and suddenly Waverly can see the mud stained up Wynonna’s boots and the exhaustion in her eyes. “I killed the bastard. The demonic son of a bitch is dead, so you can come back now, got it? You can wake up, because that thing is burning in hell where it belongs.”

She shifts forward in her chair, awkwardly rubbing at her nose and considering putting her feet up on Waverly’s bed before she remembers herself.

“Look, I, uh…” Wynonna’s voice drops to a hushed whisper. “I need you to come back. Because I think I’m… er… _harboring a fugitive_ , and I need your help, and I-I…”

Wynonna rubs the back of her neck, winces, and shakes her head. “No. No. That doesn’t make any sense. How are you supposed to figure out what that means?” She clears her throat a few times and points at her stomach. “I think I got… er… knocked… up? An-And I really…” Her voice goes dry and cracks. “I really need you backing me up here, Waves. Please.”

Waverly crouches down next to Wynonna, resting a hand on her knee. She tries to blink back the tears in her eyes. “I’m right here, Wynonna,” she murmurs. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Wynonna chokes out a sob, swallows it back down, and leans back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling.

“I promise, Wynonna, I’ll be here.” Waverly clenches her jaw and squeezes her sister’s knee. “Even… Even if you can never actually _see_ me again. I promise I’ll be with you, no matter what.”

She stays there in silence, trying to touch her sister, trying to block out the sounds as Wynonna finally breaks down into sobs.

 

+++++

 

Waverly carefully maneuvers her way back to Nicole’s room and finds her lightly poking at her face.

“What are you doing?”

“Seeing if I can wake myself up,” Nicole mutters. “I’m very stubborn.”

“Yes. You are.” Waverly lets out a shaky sigh and leans against the wall.

Nicole glances up at her and then stands straight, a frown tugging at her lips. “Hey. Are you alright? You look like you’ve been crying.”

“I-I’m fine,” Waverly squeaks, her voice cracking.

“Now who’s being stubborn?” Nicole asks gently, walking over and giving Waverly a soft hug. “Baby. What’s going on?”

“Wynonna’s pregnant.”

_“What?”_

“She just told me. Well. Unconscious Me.” Waverly chokes into Nicole’s shoulder, crying. “She said she needs me, Nic, but I don’t know what to do.”

Nicole is silent for a long moment. She presses a kiss just behind Waverly’s ear and whispers, “Come with me.”

 

+++++

 

They walk onto the roof, unable to feel the breeze gently blowing around them. Nicole talks Waverly’s hand in hers and pulls her forward, taking a seat on the edge.

“Do you know how much I love you, Waverly Earp?” she asks, her voice almost disappearing on the wind.

Waverly gives a soft giggle and sits next to her. “I would hope just as much as _I_ love _you_.”

Nicole is quiet, looking out at the sunset. “Then you know what I want you to do.”

“What?”

“Open your eyes, Waverly,” Nicole murmurs, still not looking at her. “Take a fresh breath. Go back to the world of those truly living.”

“Nicole-”

“I know you can feel it,” Nicole interrupts. “Your body calling you back. Ever since you were moved out of ICU, it’s been waiting for you. But you haven’t gone.”

Waverly swallows, tears glinting in her eyes. “I won’t. Not without you.”

“You have to.” Nicole twists around to face her and takes her hands in hers. “Don’t you see, baby? You _have_ to. Wynonna needs you. Hell, this whole damn town needs you. And I-I… I need you to live, Waverly. Even if only one of us does. I can’t let you sit here in limbo forever just because of me. I want you to go back. I want you to live your life, even if it can’t be with me.”

“Nicole, please,” Waverly whimpers, freeing her hands and using them to cup Nicole’s face. “I don’t want a life without you in it.”

“You know I’ll always be here,” Nicole says gently, giving her a soft smile. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. I swear it.”

Waverly, now fully crying, croaks out, “I love you, Nicole Haught.”

“I love you, too, Waverly Earp.”

Before Waverly can say anything more, before she can protest further, Nicole surges forward and lands a scorching kiss to Waverly’s lips.

And the next time Waverly blinks, she’s opening her eyes to see the ceiling above her bed inside the hospital.

 

+++++

 

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Wynonna prompts awkwardly, lounging in the chair next to Waverly’s bed.

Waverly shakes her head slowly, thinking. “Nic and I were walking through the woods. Flirting a little but paying attention. And then that demon came out of nowhere. Slashed me first. Put me on the ground.” She shivers. “Then all I could do was watch as it went after Nicole.”

Wynonna reaches out and squeezes her hand. “She’ll be okay.”

“You don’t know that,” Waverly whispers. “She hasn’t stirred at all?”

“No. But c’mon, Waves, you know Haught. She’s tougher than she looks.”

Waverly swallows. “Can I go see her?”

“Not until you’re discharged, baby girl. Don’t worry. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“I just have a bad feeling,” Waverly whimpers, settling back into her pillow. “Like I should know something but don’t.” Her voice lowers. “Like I might not see her again.”

She doesn’t feel Nicole’s hand reach out next to her, knuckles brushing down her cheek.

 

+++++

 

When Waverly is released from the hospital, the first thing she does is go right back in, heading for Nicole’s room.

She sits there for as long as she’s allowed, every single day, for two long, lonely weeks.

“Please, Nicole,” Waverly whispers, hoarse and pleading. “I didn’t know who I was before you. Not really.” She fidgets with Nicole’s hand. “I spent so much of my life trying to be something I wasn’t. Trying to be what I thought everyone wanted to be. I never let myself be what _I_ wanted. I bottled everything up so tightly that I thought I was going to burst from the pain and rage of it all.” She starts stroking the back of Nicole’s palm gently. “And then you. You changed it all. With your stupid cocky grin and charming smile. I melted, Nic. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel like I had to leave those walls up. I could be me. I could have what I always wanted but was never brave or brazen enough to take.”

Waverly leans down, resting her forehead against Nicole’s arm. “That’s what you gave me, Nicole. And I want to spend the rest of my life making sure you know how grateful I am. How much I love you for it. So please, Nicole. Please wake up. I can’t do this without you.”

She breaks down, sobbing into the sheets, her entire body shaking.

And above her in the bed, Nicole slowly opens her eyes.


End file.
